Erren Gerraud Kelly’s most recent poem to appear here was “The Long Goodbye” (August 2017)

Marine
By Erren Gerraud Kelly

I didn’t tell her this
Would be my only day in
San Francisco
I was just here to read
Some poems
And then back to l.a.
I may live there, but san
Francisco will always have
My heart
I couldn’t stop looking at
Her, every time she walked
Past me in the kitchen
She had the kind of body
I’m not supposed to like
But i did, anyway, long and
Linear, as if she were a bicyclist
Or a soccer player
She could climb her the crooked
Street effortlessly
Maybe i shouldn’t look at her
As we’re talking, maybe i shouldnt
Tell her that her English is
Flawless
Though, she would be in her
Element on a beach in
The riviera
Like her name, she is calm
Peaceful as a wave, like a girl
In Monet’s landscapes
Maybe i shouldn’t look at girls
Like her, or be enamored
Maybe chasing her is
Is pointless
But i live to chase a rabbit
I would rather die chasing a
Dream
Than grow old with regrets